Golden Compass and Christian Romances

[alanajoli]

I took the test to find out what my Daemon is (because amieroserotruck and did theirs), despite my reservations about the "His Dark Materials" trilogy (which is unarguably beautifully written--my reservations are for different reasons). It's behind the cut, if you'd like to influence what my daemon looks like.

I find it delightful that he started out as one of Morrigan's children--or as a Trickster, depending on whether you prefer Celtic imagery or American Indian. I'm not as fond of Norse, so Odin didn't come to mind until just now.

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I've said here on this journal that I have issues with fiction particularly marketed to a subculture. I realize in some ways this isn't fair: any genre writing could, arguably, be marketed to a subculture, so by virtue of my being a genre writer, making statements like that is hypocritical. So I'll try to explain a little better why it bothers me. It's particularly Christian fiction that sets itself aside from mainstream fiction that gets on my nerves, in part because it's declaring itself to have a very limited audience (we don't want any atheist, Jewish, or Hindu readers, for example), but also because I've met people who then *only* read Christian fiction, because it's acceptable fiction. (I've met Christians who refuse to read fiction at all, because it's all lies.) The imposition of those limits grates on my nerves a bit.

Which is why I am thrilled to talk about Bethany House. I saw a book at the library the other day with an enchanting cover--a novel of Regency England with aspects of the typical Regency romance novel, but much more about the self-discovery that the heroine goes through over the course of the novel. From the outside of the novel--cover to blurbs on the back--it gives every appearance of being either straight-fiction, or fiction that would appeal to romance readers. The only reason I was aware of it as a Christian novel is because I know that Bethany House is a Christian publisher. I think all of their novels are shelved under religious fiction at Barnes and Noble, but at my local library, they're considered regular fiction, where they can find a wider audience.

If my whole thought process still sounds hypocritical, since I have no trouble with science-fiction and fantasy being shelved separately from regular fiction (and, in fact, was upset when Susanna Clarke's wonderful Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell was shelved in the fiction section instead of SFF), I'd like to know! I'd hate to be a hypocrite just because I don't care for how something is marketed.

Comments

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

I don't have a problem with the way the Golden Compass was marketed at all, actually. I feel that the last third of the final book got lost in the point that Pullman was trying to make rather than best serving the story--but I wonder how much of that was because I knew he was creating the anti-Narnia in advance, due to interviews I had read with him. The trilogy was actually much better than I'd expected from the reviews, and I was only disappointed by the tail end.

So actually, completely unrelated thoughts. If I'd realized I was going to be double posting last night, I would have separated them into multiple posts.

[mechristy.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that's almost exactly how I felt about the books, except that I started getting annoyed in the second book. But, I don't think I'd had any advance warning about the Anti-Narnia or atheist message. This may have made be even more cranky. I was surprised to suddenly have my compelling adventure-fantasy yanked away and replaced by cardboard cut-outs mouthing the authors philosophical views.

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

That's exactly it! When the point becomes more important than the story, it completely takes me out of my sense of disbelief.

With the number of fans of the books--both YA and adult--I'd thought there weren't very many of us who noticed...